Cuban art exhibit in Merida promotes cultural interaction

Photo: Robert Adams
Present at Cuban art exhibit opening at SoHo Galleries were U.S. Consul David Mico (sixth from left) and Cuban Consul Mario Jorge Garcia Cecelia (second from right).

With the consuls of the United States and Cuba and other dignitaries present, SoHo Galleries in Merida inaugurated a groundbreaking exhibition of five contemporary Cuban artists this past weekend.

At an opening event Friday Nov. 13 for the month-long exhibition of more than 80 works, U.S. Consul David Mico and Cuban Consul Mario Jorge Garcia Cecilia both praised SoHo owner Adele Aguirre for fostering cultural interaction in Merida.

“I am happy to support and visit an American-owned gallery that is part of the cultural fabric of Merida,” U.S. Consul Mico said in an interview at the opening attended by about 70 Merida art enthusiasts. “Art is a great medium for communication.”

Cuban Consul Garcia Cecilia said he was impressed to witness in Merida the exhibition of Cuban artists, particularly of a young generation. He added that he was pleased that the U.S. consul attended the event, “because culture is important between the peoples” of Cuba and the U.S.

The exhibition titled “LANDSCAPES OF THE SOUL,” was assembled by Aguirre, a U.S. native and gallery owner, and Cuban curator Ana Joa Zagas. Aguirre said all the disparate works, which include abstract, impressionist and primitive paintings as well as ceramics, are united by a theme of using landscape to recall the artists’ homeland.

Prominently featured in the exhibit are several pieces by internationally known Cuban ceramicist Jorge Jacas Vivanco, who attended the opening. In an interview, Jacas said he is negotiating to present an exhibit of his works in a Chicago museum and said he is enthusiastic about “the new air” prevailing in Cuba due to thawing relations between his country and the U.S.

“Art is an expression that is usually influenced by culture and in turn helps to change culture. As such, the arts are a physical manifestation of the internal creative impulse”.

SoHo Galleries presents “Landscapes of the Soul,” a collective exhibition of five Cuban artists. The exhibit includes contemporary interpretations of landscapes by four leading artists of the Cuban East, each with their own distinct creative style: Julia Valdez Borrero (abstract), Carlos Alberto Casanova (impressionist), Edgar Yero (drawing) and Roberto Guerra Hechavarria (primitive).

The exhibition’s guest artist is well-known Cuban ceramicist Jorge Jacas Vivanco, who has been honored nationally and internationally as one of the most outstanding contemporary ceramics artists.

These contemporary artists are exhibiting for the first time in Merida, acknowledged masters in each of their techniques, which allow us to delight in different representative samples of the Cuban landscape.

Valdez with a masterful command of color, Casanova with the unique fluent use of the spatula, Yero with a refined drawing and Guerra with astonishing harmony, meet in a single exposure as a means of expression and creativity capable of transmitting emotions of the soul for us privileged to enjoy.

Also currently on display at the gallery are works by U.S. and Mexican artists.